Feilder



(No Model.)

G. IF. WINDPEILDER.

BXPANSIBLE HINGBD MOUTH MAIL POUCH. No. 480,645.

Patented Aug. 9, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. WINDFEILDER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF `ONE-HALF TO HUGO R. RIEBELING, OF SAME PLACE.

EXPANSIBLE HINGED-MOUTH MAIL-POUCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,645, dated August 9, 1892. Application led February 29, 1892. Serial No. 423.277. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that nI, GEORGE F. WIND- FEILDER, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Expansible Hinged- Mouth Mail-Pouches, of which the following 1s a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to a mail-pouch with an endless hinged, expansible, and collapsing mouth, the sectional connecting-bars of which mouth carry projecting staples that engage 1n registering slots in the opposite bars when r 5 the mouth is collapsed and carry the padlocks that lock the closure, and the said end- -less hinged mouth when expanded open constitutes a convenient open mouth-holder frame that largely facilitates the mail collectors 2o and distributersrwork in lling mail into the pouches; and it consists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure I is a front elevation of the outer end of a mail-pouch, and shows its collapsing mouth in its closed position, with the elevated Hap ready to fold over, bringing its eyelets into engagement with the lock-staples, ready for the engagement of the padlocks that fasten said closed mouth of the pouch. Fig. II is a like view of the same turned a quarter round, and shows the loops by which the pouches are carried and by which they are automatically caught as the train passes the mail-stations. Fig. III is a top view and shows the expansive mouth of the pouch collapsed in full lines and open in broken lines with the iap not yet folded over. Fig. IV is a detail vertical section of a modification 4o taken on line IV IV, Fig. V, and shows internally-projecting ridges on the connecting rear hin ge-bars of the collapsing mouth. Fig. V is a top view of the endless hinged mouth of the mail-pouch, partly opened, and shows the internally-projecting ridges on the rear side of the jaw, with the projections formed by the recessed grooves on the opposite side of said jaw in which said ridges are seated when the jaw is closed; and Fig. VI is a v er- 5o tical section, the upper member of the double figure being taken on line VI VI, Fig. V, and shows one of the internally-projecting ridges, as also one of the staples on the rear jaw, and the externally-projecting recess in which said ridge is seated on the front jaw. 5 5 The lower member of the double figure also shows the same partsin their closed positions.

Referring to the drawings, 5 is the outer portion of a leather pouch or sack.

7 represent the meeting side edges of the 6o leather pouch, which are secured together by the rivets 8.

9 represents an endless metal hinge, which has four pivot-points constituted, respectively, of the registering duplex loops lO and the pivot-pins l1,that are seated in and pvotally connect said loops, and the connecting-sections 12, that carry said loops and connect, respectively, between said four tu ming-points of the hinge.

13 represents rivets that pass through near the top margin of the leather pouch and through perforations 141E in the hinge-sections 12, where they are seated and riveted to connect said leather pouch to said sections of the endless hinge. This constitutes for the pouch a convenient and reliable expansive and collapsing mouth 14., which can be easily expanded open to a perfect square or to any intermediate position for convenience in filling So in the mail into the pouch, and also as easily collapses again after the mail has been inserted to secure the safe retention thereof.

It will also be seen that not only does my endless hinge constitute an easily expanded and collapsing mouth for the mail-pouch, but it also, when expanded, as shown in broken lilies in Fig. III, (or still further expanded into a square mouth,if required,) it in either of said expanded positions constitutes a holder 9o 15 for the retention of the open mouth, making it much more convenient for the insertion of the mail.

16 represent staples, of which there are preferably two, which are secured to and project forward from the rear sections 12 of the endless hinge 9, and when said Vhinge collapses the said staples pass through the eyeholes 17 in the front sections of said hinges, projecting sufficiently beyond said sections roo for the fastening purposes, now to be de-` and which loops serve the double purpose of l hand-holds in the carriage of said pouch, and

when the pouch is hung up outside a postalcar for automatic delivery at way-stations where the Ypostal-train does not stop said pro jecting loop-handles are engaged bythe autolnaticclutch which is set up to grasp the pouch intended for said station.

In Figs. IV, V, and VI is shown a modifilcation, in which longitudinal ribs 24 are stamped from the rear forward in the real hinge-sections on line with the staples on each side thereof projecting.,r in a wing-like` position therefrom, and 25 are corresponding elongated recesses that are stamped fromthe rear forward in the front hinge-sections on line with the eye-holes in which the staples engage and extending in a wing-like position therefrom on either side.

the sections that carry them, which, as do the i ribs 24, stien and strengthen said sections. 1-

Now it will be seen that when the mouth of the mail-pouch, by means of the endless hinge i in this modicatiomis collapsed the said projecting wing-ribs 24 on the front of the rear hinge-sections enter the corresponding re-4 The formation ofV these recesses form ribs 26 on the outsideof "cesses 25 in the front hingesection, and thus constituteareinforce closure of the mouth of the mail-pouch for the secure holding of any small articles of value that may escape from any of the letters in the pouch.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with a pouch, of an endless hinge 9,iconsisting of two sections 12 having loops 10 and staples 16, two sections 12 having loops 10 and staple-eyes 17, and the pivotfpins ,11, by which the loops are hinged together, means by which the hinge is secured to the pouch, and a folding flap 18, secured to the outside of the staple-sections, having staple-eyes 20, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a pouch, of an endless hinge 9, consisting of two sectonsl2 having loops 10 and internal ridges 24, formed with staples 16, two sections 12 having loops 10 and internal grooves 25, providing projections 26 and formed with stapleeyesl', and thepivot-pins l1, by which theloopsare hinged together, and means by which the hinge issecured to the pouch, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a pouch, of an endless hinge 9, consisting of two sections 12 having loops 10 and internal ridges 24, formed with staples 16, two sections 12 having loops 10 and internal grooves 25 providingprojections 26 and formed with staple-eyes 17, and thepivot-pins 1l, by which the loops are hinged together, means by which the hinge is secured to the pouch, and a folding flap 1S, secured to rthe outside of the staple-sections, having staple-eyes 20, substantially as described.

`GEORGE F. WINDFEILDLER. in presence of- BENJN. A. KNIGHT, SAML. KNIGHT. 

